PolitiFact is STILL Wrong

Image from source, PolitiFact

PolitiFact, the fact-checking organization with the "Pants on Fire" meter has always been my go-to page (along with Snopes) to see if something is true or not. Funny then--considering that they are a regular source of mine--that PolitiFact's response to those of us who had an issue with their "Lie of the Year", is that we live in an echo chamber.

Do I watch The Rachel Maddow Show? I almost never miss it. Do I listen to liberal talk radio? I can only find it on my computer (Side note: there are 450 conservative talkers in the country. Maybe 10 liberals), but I listen to quite a bit of it. I also read several newspapers online (USAToday, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal), as well as heaping helpings of left- and right-wing blogs and forums (Joe.My.God., ThinkProgress, FreeRepublic, RedState). My sources are certainly weighted to the left, but I get information from all over the place. As Sarah Palin said, I read "all of 'em!"

All of that is quite beside the point. PolitiFact said that the most egregious lie of the year was Democrats saying that Paul Ryan's plan would kill Medicare. It would. It's not a lie. Paul Ryan's plan would phase out Medicare, and replace it with a voucher system called Medicare. It would be like if your dog died, and your parents replaced him with a cat with the same name. "Skippy didn't die, he's right there!" At worst, the claim was imprecise. To call it the lie of the year in a year filled with whoppers is ridiculous. They made a mistake, and like Donald Trump does, they're doubling down on it.


[Excerpt]


Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation

At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news.

"I listen to Rush and read NewsMax," he said. "And to make sure I'm getting a balanced view, I watch Fox."

My liberal friends get their information from distinctly different sources — Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Rachel Maddow. To make sure they get a balanced view, they click Facebook links — from their liberal friends. . .


Read more (but it's bullshit) at: PolitiFact